• What feature do you want to see in Sharesight? I would like to see an option to include/exclude currency gain in the performance calculation. A similar toggle to showing open vs open & closed positions
• Why do you want it? I would like to see the ‘pure’ performance of the investment itself, inclusive of dividends/distributions but without FX impact
• How is this affecting you? While I appreciate that FX movements are part of investing internationally in other currencies the FX movement is not intrinsically a consideration for me in investment performance. When I am comparing investment A to investment B - whether in local currency or a foreign currency (and the foreign currency could be the same or different), the FX impact is not something I want to consider.
• Do you currently have a workaround solution? If yes, what is it? The best workaround is to simply add cap gains percentage to dividend percentage - though I have to do this manually. I know that this is not a correct calculation for total return due to the way that the formula works however it is the best proxy for what I want to see. It is less than ideal.
• Can we reach out in future to ask follow up questions about this idea? Yes
It appears competitor Navexa understands my suggestion. Their email last month stated:
Keep an eye out for our next new feature, too.
Multi-currency view: Very shortly you’ll be able to view overseas holdings in their local currency and your portfolio base currency. This will allow you to better compare performance without currency fluctuations blurring the picture.
I’d like to see something along these lines as well. The currency gain seems to assume that you converted from AUD to the foreign currency at the time the holding was acquired and then back again when it is sold which is very misleading if you maintain a cash balance in the foreign currency with your broker and trade that balance in and out of positions over time. Selling a holding “locks in” a currency gain (or loss) against that trade which will be become inaccurate as time goes on if you leave that cash in your foreign broker account.
I’d prefer to see foreign currency gains/losses separately, based on deposits/withdrawals to/from - or better yet transfers between - cash accounts. The deficiencies in cash accounts is another bugbear of mine that’s been discussed elsewhere.
Honestly, this stuff really reduces the value of the product in my mind. It means lots of manual work both in maintaining data and mentally filtering out misleading numbers. I realise that everyone has their workflow that works best for their situation but these seem like basic things to get right, over and above some of the other changes i’ve seen in recent months.